Getting started with Selenium

Selenium is an open source automated testing suite for web applications across various different browsers and platforms. It is similar to HP Quick Test Pro (QTP), but Selenium focuses only on automating web-based applications. 

Selenium is a suite of software’s, each cater to different testing needs. 

Selenium components are:

Selenium IDE:

Selenium IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is the framework in the Selenium suite. It is a plugin that we can install as easily with Firefox. IDE is a prototyping tool. We cannot create more advanced test cases by using IDE.

Selenium Remote Control (Selenium RC):

Selenium RC first framework automated testing tool of Selenium. It allows users to use a programming language they prefer.

RC can support the following programming languages:

• Java
• C#
• PHP
• Python
• Perl
• Ruby

WebDriver:

The WebDriver is better than both Selenium IDE and Selenium RC in all aspects. It support to create more advanced test cases. WebDriver is not like Selenium RC, does not rely on JavaScript for automation, it communicates directly with the browser.

WebDriver can support the following programming languages:

• Java
• C#
• PHP
• Python
• Perl
• Ruby

Selenium Grid:

Selenium Grid is a tool used to run parallel tests across different machines and browsers simultaneously.

Features of selenium Grid:

• Enables parallel running of tests in multiple browsers and platforms.
• It saves time.

Advantages of Selenium:

QTP and Selenium are the most preferred tools in the software automation market. Hence the comparison the pros of Selenium over QTP:

Disadvantages of Selenium:

To makes sense to compare the pros of QTP over Selenium,